Tag Archives: Doctors

Green Knight’s Lessons for Doctors

By Robin Bates | Published: June 30, 2017

An essay I received on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” from a pre-med student has me thinking of the poem’s useful lessons for doctors. There are several.

Doctors Need Lit To Stay Human

By Robin Bates | Published: August 30, 2016

A doctor argues that continuous reading of literature is essential to keep doctors balanced and to help them deal with the problems that come with the profession.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "I measure every grief I meet", Colorless Tsukuru, death and dying, Emily Dickinson, Karen Joy Fowler, Kazuo Ishiguro, medical profession, Never Let Me Go, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves | Comments closed

Medicine & Lit, Working Together

By Robin Bates | Published: June 2, 2016

Paul Kalinithi’s “When Breath Becomes Air” represents an ideal blending of science and the humanities, including literature. It’s a book we all should be reading.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged death and dying, Krapp's Last Tape, Samuel Beckett | Comments closed

Medical Schools Should Require Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: July 12, 2013

Poetry should be required in medical schools for its ability to teach empathy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Morbidity and Mortality Rounds", Medical School, Medicine, Rafael Campo | Comments closed

Midwife, No Doc, at Grandson’s Birth

By Robin Bates | Published: February 6, 2012

My new grandson had the birth experience denied Tristram Shandy: one where a midwife was in charge.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Birth, Enlightenment, Laurence Sterne, Medicine, midwives, Science, Tristram Shandy | Comments closed

Satirizing Doctors, the Best Medicine

By Robin Bates | Published: April 19, 2010

Doctors debate while patient dies in Hogarth’s “Harlot’s Progress,” plate V I’ve talked several times about my friend Alan, who has been battling cancer for a while now. At present he is still alive, still working out at the gym, and still in the dark about what kind of cancer he has. He longs for […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged cancer, death and dying, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones | Comments closed

Doctors, Bad Bedside Manners, and Poetry

By Robin Bates | Published: January 12, 2010

Margaret Edson In Margaret Edson’s W;t there is a doctor, Jason, who has taken her 17th century poetry class as a challenge. As he puts it, You can’t get into medical school unless you’re well-rounded. And I made a bet with myself that I could get an A in the three hardest courses on campus. […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged death and dying, John Donne, Margaret Edson, Medical Care, W;t | Comments closed